Interview with Natalie Barr, Sunrise
29 May 2024
NATALIE BARR: Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to dump Immigration Minister Andrew Giles after yet another visa scandal. It's been revealed some foreigners accused of heinous crimes, including a serial rapist who attacked 25 women and a child, were allowed to stay in this country because of a directive made by the minister. And now Seven News understands that some of Andrew Giles cabinet colleagues believe this debacle could end his ministerial career. For more, we're joined by Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil and shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume. Good morning to both of you. Clare, should Andrew Giles go?
CLARE O’NEIL: Well, now I can reiterate some of what Minister Giles said in the Parliament yesterday, and that is that the decisions that you've referred to in your opening, their overturned cancellation, decisions that were made within the Home Affairs Department, and we're really deeply concerned about some of these decisions. It does appear that the decisions made by this independent tribunal are not meeting community expectations and not putting proper stead on the importance that we place on community safety. So actually, Minister Giles has stepped in here. He is taking action as a good minister would do. He has demanded answers from the department about why these visas were not brought to his attention. And he is also actively reviewing about 30 cases that we are concerned about. Indeed, he has already cancelled some of those visas, so he's doing the right thing. He's stepped in at the right moment, and it's important that this action is taken
NATALIE BARR: He stepped in at the right moment, okay. A lot of people would dispute that. He put in this direction, this ministerial direction last January. Then people raped children. Then they used the laws this direction that was put in by your Government and argued that they would they had ties to this country. Their families needed them, and their families loved them. And they used that direction to stay in this country. So do you think it's maybe too late that Andrew Giles is acting now
CLARE O’NEIL: Look, Nat, I understand the concerns that you're raising there, and I just I understand this is a part of the detail here, but I just reiterate what Minister Giles has said yesterday, those visas were cancelled by the part that government plays in this. An independent tribunal overturned those decisions, and the minister is now stepping in and seeking to consider again whether those visas can be cancelled. So I'd say to you again, Andrew Giles is a good minister. He's diligent in his work and this is the right process dealing with the situation.
NATALIE BARR: But he have here he gave the direction to the tribunal, didn't he? So doesn't the buck stop with him
CLARE O’NEIL: Nat, what Minister Giles did was create a new ministerial direction about how cancellation decisions should be considered. And then the rapist used it to stay here. What he did not do is reduce the importance of community safety in that direction. Now, as I've said to you, there are decisions that are made by this independent tribunal that I find very disconcerting and that, I believe, do not meet community expectations, or at least at face value. Minister Giles will now have the opportunity to review some of those decisions. And as I said, as I understand it, some of those visas have already been cancelled as a result of him stepping in and recalling those decisions
NATALIE BARR: Jane.
JANE HUME: This is a decision of government that has gone horribly, terribly wrong, like every decision of government seems to in this portfolio. Clare, Andrew Giles made this decision and directed the AAT to consider the ties to Australia of these criminals when making their decision as to whether to keep their visas or revoke their visas. AAT cannot be blamed for responding to a direction from the minister. This is his problem. This is his fault. He is now scrambling to fix a problem of his own making. Why is it that when something goes wrong in this portfolio, you blame the AAT, the courts, department, you blame the Coalition? When will you, when will Mr. Giles take responsibility for the decisions that your Government is making? That is putting Australians at risk every single day?
NATALIE BARR: Clare, that's a direct question. Surely the buck stops with him. He's the minister. He made the direction they had to consider these people's ties with Australia. The art considered their ties with Australia and they said, gee, they have ties with Australia. The IIT considered their ties with Australia and they said gee, they had ties with Australia. So all these rapists want to know what they did. One raped a 14 year old stepdaughter while his wife gave birth, one rate the sister of the mother of his infant child, one rate a disabled 14 year old and a 16 year old one raped a child between the age of 10 and 14, and one rate eight times 48 counts of sexual assault on 25 women and a teen the judge said he had no remorse. That's what we're dealing with. And you're still arguing support for the minister. Do you think that washes?
CLARE O'NEIL: Well, I completely understand the concern that you have about these and the crimes that you've listed there are absolutely horrendous and no member of parliament and no member of the Government is going to disagree with that. What has happened subsequent to that conduct is the Department of Home Affairs has canceled those visas. They have cancelled them. They have taken that action and canceled those visas. Then an independent Tribunal has overturned those decisions. Now Minister Giles has stepped in. He is taking action in this situation, as he rightly should that she had said he had set up a process he had set up a process in the department of bringing back to him specific cases of concern and it's really clear that that was not happening. And I know this was covered in Senate Estimates last night, I'd say to you again, the decisions made by the Ag here at my view in my view at first blush do not meet any community standards that I'm aware of. They don't meet the expectations so we might see safety. And that is why Minister Giles is looking at these decisions. Again, he's reviewing about 30 decisions at the moment and some of those visas have already been-
NATALIE BARR: Clare, this is tough because you're answering all those questions Clare, he's not here this morning. Your head of your department. The head of Home Affairs Clare, Stephanie Foster admitted she was not raising the alarm. She was not warning Andrew Giles about this as these people were allowed to stay. She had admitted in that committee hearing that it was extraordinary. She admitted that she became aware recently because of media coverage. How terrible this was. Does Stephanie Foster need to keep her job? What are you going to do about it? This is your department.
CLARE O'NEIL: Yeah, absolutely Nat. And I think it's, you know, been very widely reported that there have been some issues within the department. That have been of concern to us. And we have said about making some really significant changes to that. We will get to the bottom of why it is that the process that was set out for Home Affairs was not followed. The urgent matter ahead of us is to get Minister Giles to reconsider these visas as he has indicated that he's doing to make sure that we can ensure that community standards being met in visa decisions. But we will be-
JANE HUME: The urgent matter is to get a new Immigration Minister because quite frankly this one has failed the Australian people. Anthony Albanese needs to sack Minister Giles. He needs to do it today and you need to repeal and revoke Direction 99 today, today, so that nobody else walks about our community committing these crimes because of directions that this Government has made.
NATALIE BARR: Okay, okay. You both had your say thank you very much this morning. I'll see you next week.